Personal Statement

PERSONAL STATEMENT: A DOCUMENTARY FILM

Personal Statement is a feature-length documentary that follows Karoline, Christine and Enoch through their senior year and into college. They work tirelessly as peer college counselors to realize better futures for themselves and their peers. They struggle and they stumble, but refuse to succumb to the barriers that prevent so many low-income students from attending and graduating from college.

This guide was developed as a resource to guide discussions around issues presented in the film Personal Statement, which follows three first- generation students of color who, with limited access to school counselors, become peer mentors to their classmates and advocate for changes to a broken postsecondary advising system.

This guide is intended for students, school counselors, community activists, and others concerned about the guidance gap. It is designed to help facilitators plan a screening event that will engage audience members in meaningful conversations about how the barriers to

college access impact young people and their ability to reach independence.

Personal Statement can help viewers and their communities shift attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors and advocate for broad-based systems change. Educators and other allies wanting to engage in this conversation with multiple audiences are encouraged to use this guide as a resource.

FILM SYNOPSIS

Karoline, Christine and Enoch spend much of their senior year helping their peers get to college, even though they must overcome obstacles of their own that could easily prevent them from going to college themselves.

The film follows them through their senior year and into college as they attempt to navigate the college process on a terribly uneven playing field.

A Toolkit to Spark Community Dialogue

PERSONAL STATEMENT is a feature-length film that can help people understand the barriers at-risk students face when seeking college and career advising. The Center for Postsecondary Readiness and Success has teamed up with Director Julianne Dressner to create an interactive screening guide for school counselors, college and career advocates, and community members to discuss the causes and effects of the Guidance Gap crisis.

This toolkit includes the following:

Resources to view and screen PERSONAL STATEMENT

Facilitation Guide & Discussion Questions

90-min Discussion Plan

Sample Agenda & Sign-in Sheet

Resource Page for School Counselors, Students, Families, & Community Stakeholders

Start planning your community screening today! Film resources are down below:

WATCH THE FILM

If you are interested in organizing a screening of the film, please contact GOOD DOCS.

HOST A SCREENING

If you want to collaborate to organize a strategic screening to build support for more resources to close the college guidance gap, please get in touch by email.

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Cast & Crew Details

Director: Juliane Dressner

Producer: Juliane Dressner, Beth Levison

Cinematographer: Juliane Dressner, Edwin Martinez

Editor: Kent Bassett, Edwin Martinez, Martha Shane

Cast: Karoline Jimenez, Christine Rodriguez, Enoch Jemmott

About CPRS

The Center for Postsecondary Readiness and Success (CPRS) will engage in multi-disciplinary approaches to improve equitable student postsecondary opportunity - with implications for practice, research and policy development. The Center will be specifically devoted to the study of systems and processes (e.g., counseling and advising) that influence postsecondary readiness, access, persistence, and completion.